Obama: "Taxing Millionaires Has Nothing to do With Envy, and Everything to do with Math"

On Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada, Obama defended himself from critics like Romney who have accused him of using the "politics of envy," to raise the tax rate on millionaires.

“Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans or do we want to keep investing in everything else?” he said, citing examples like military benefits and green energy, “We can’t do both.”

He said people who make more than one million dollars a year should pay 30% in taxes, which, he noted, is lower than it was under Ronald Reagan. It's "common sense," he said for the "Buffett rule" to tax millionaires so that they pay a higher percentage than their secretaries.

Obama used Bill Gates as an example of people like Warren Buffett, who are very rich, but still supports taxing millionaires like themselves.

“I promise you, Bill Gates does not envy the rich,” he said. “This has nothing to do with envy, it has everything to do with math.” Obama explained thatif he were to get a "tax break I don't need and a tax break the country can't afford," that money will either "add up to our deficit" or "somebody else is going to have to make up the difference."